Heroes Against Hunger

Farm Share Rescues Tons Of Fresh Produce And Puts It On The Tables Of The Poor

March 28, 2004|STORIES BY MARGO HARAKAS STAFF WRITER

That's a towering mountain of nutrition.

Robbins recalls the packinghouse tour Friedrichs gave her the day they met. She had been a successful seafood wholesaler and restaurant owner, but this part of the food chain was new to her. The bottom line, the sight that made her gasp, was the staggering waste that poured from the cull hopper, "22,000 pounds of fresh, edible vegetables dumped into a truck. It was like a wave." Truckload after truckload, headed for burial.

Outside the noisy plant, water gushes from an overhead pipe, washing the tomatoes from the gondolas onto the feeder belt. Inside, graders' hands sweep across the fruit, culling or redirecting those too small, too big, misshapen or blemished.

American consumers demand food of painterly, still-life perfection. What doesn't measure up is thrown out.

Four-foot square, yellow plastic bins capture a portion of the rejects. But most of what is separated out winds up in a chute that hour after hour dumps its fill into trucks to be hauled back to the fields to be plowed under.

"Here in Homestead, farmers offer more food than we can accept," says Robbins, standing near the endlessly spewing chute. "We get less than 20 percent of what's thrown away."

In this plant alone, she says, "we could get 22,000 pounds every 40 minutes."

If she only had the money and manpower to get it to the people who need it.

First day on the job, 12 years ago, a farmer gave Robbins a chair, an office and a cooler in his packing plant.

"The first call I made," says Robbins, "I got 10,000 pounds of potatoes. ... The second call, I got 6,000 pounds of green beans. That was the first 10 minutes."

When she asked Friedrichs what to do next, he replied: "You're the society girl. Give it away to charity."

Fact was, she hadn't a clue about such matters. She did have a friend, however. Frank Jacobs, chief executive officer of the Miami Rescue Mission. "How would you like some green beans and potatoes?" she asked.

The catch was, she was talking truckload quantities. Also, she had no means of delivering. It was, plain and simple, a call for help. Jacobs spread the word, and charities responded. "That was my first half hour of Farm Share," Robbins says, "and I was hooked."

Months later, Hurricane Andrew demolished the Farm Share office and Robbins' home. It was another jarring blow in a year that had been unsparingly tough for Robbins. Within a span of three months, her marriage ended, her mother died, and now she had to cope with the chaos of Andrew.

Instead of giving up, Robbins, who for four years would work without salary, pitched in with greater intensity. Farm Share gave her an anchor.

"I'm a very religious person," she says. "And I think we all need something to work toward. So when I was going through my own personal trials, Farm Share gave me something to strive for and care about. It was my salvation."

And it was about to resurrect in a magnitude she had not envisioned.

Then-Secretary of Agriculture Bob Crawford, touring farm communities in Andrew's wake, heard about Farm Share. He sent for Robbins. "Tell me what you do," he said.

After listening intently, he said: "I want to help. What do you need?"

Everything, Robbins replied.

Two weeks later, Crawford offered use of the packing plant at the Farmers Market. Problem was, Robbins had neither the labor nor the knowledge to operate it. Crawford responded again, transferring market manager Will Brown from North Florida to help with Robbins' operation.

About the same time, Robbins descended on Tallahassee to confer with an old family friend, Gov. Lawton Chiles, about the possibility of using inmate labor.

In quick order, a state partnership was forged that continues today. The Department of Agriculture provides warehouse space and two employees, and the Department of Corrections provides up to two correctional officers and 24 inmates each day. The inmates grade and box the bulk produce, load and unload trucks and coolers, and help with the on-site handouts.